''Calucci's Department'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

broadcast by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. It premiered on September 14, 1973, and after failing to compete in the ratings against

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom '' Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom from 1962 to ...

'', was canceled after the December 28 episode. It was replaced on January 11, 1974 by the 13-week ''

Dirty Sally ''Dirty Sally'' is a humorous Western television series about a hard-drinking cantankerous old woman and a young former outlaw traveling to the California gold fields in a wagon pulled by a mule named Worthless. The series consists of 14 half-ho ...

'', a half-hour

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

starring

Jeanette Nolan Jeanette Nolan (December 30, 1911 – June 5, 1998) was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series '' The Virginian'' (1962–1971) and '' Dirty Sally'' (1974) and in films such as ''Macbeth'' ...

and

Dack Rambo Norman Jay "Dack" Rambo (November 13, 1941 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, widely known for his role as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the series '' The Guns of Will Sonnett'', as Steve Jacobi in the soap opera ''All My Children'', ...

. The series focused on Joe Calucci, the supervisor of a New York City

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

office. His day was spent dealing with a disparate group of claimants, the petty squabbles among the members of his staff (represented by a cross-section of ethnic backgrounds), the frustrations of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

red tape Red tape is a concept employed to denounce excessive or redundant regulation and adherence to formal rules for creating unnecessary constraints on action and decision-making. The occurrence of red tape is usually associated with governments but a ...

and his infatuation with his secretary Shirley. Except for its setting, the show was similar to the British hit ''

Are You Being Served? ''Are You Being Served?'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by David Croft (TV producer), David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. Croft also served as executive producer and television directo ...

'', which had premiered in 1972.

Principal cast

James Coco James Emil Coco (March 21, 1930 – February 25, 1987) was an American stage and screen actor. He was the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Cable ACE Award and three Obie Awards, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, ...

as Joe Calucci *

Candy Azzara Candice Azzara is an American character actress. Career In the summer of 1965, she appeared as Eve in ''On the First Day'', a one-act play written by David Graeme and directed by Charles Merlis at the 41st Street Playhouse in Manhattan. Bille ...

as Shirley Balukis *

Rosetta LeNoire Rosetta LeNoire (born Rosetta Olive Burton; August 8, 1911 – March 17, 2002) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was known to contemporary audiences for her work in television. She had regular roles on such series as ' ...

as Mitzi Gordon *

Peggy Pope Florence Margaret "Peggy" Pope (May 15, 1929 – May 27, 2020) was an American actress of stage, television and film. Early life Pope was born in Montclair, New Jersey. Her father was a notable doctor in the area. She graduated from Smith Coll ...

as Elanie Fusco *Bill Lazarus as Jack Woods *Jack Fletcher as Oscar Cosgrove * Jose Perez as Ramon Gonzalez

Episodes

References

''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network Shows 1946 - Present'' by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh,

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

, pp. 124–125

External links

* {{IMDb title, 69571 1970s American sitcoms 1970s American workplace comedy television series 1973 American television series debuts 1973 American television series endings American English-language television shows Television shows filmed in New York (state) Television shows set in New York City CBS sitcoms